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Bids 2020/21

School Bids for BHSA Funds Raised 2020/2021.

The total amount in the BHSA accounts for this fund raising period is £ 49,000.00. The BHSA has kept £15,000.00 aside for our contribution to the major improvement works for the Junior school playground, and we also keep a minimum of £5,000.00 in the accounts to ensure any responsibilities can be covered (for example, if we have to cancel an event but still have suppliers or service providers to pay.) We also have some necessary administration costs and purchases required for the smooth running of the charity each year which must come out of the overall funds. Thus, for the period 2020/21 the bid fund is up to £29,000.00

In the past 4 years before the Pandemic the average gross income for the BHSA was £18000.00 Due to a lack of spending opportunities and the successful drive to raise money for the Junior School playground the pot is much larger than usual so it is for the parent group to decide how much of this bigger pot we spend this year.

This term there are 7 bids, 6 were delivered at the BHSA Meeting last week the seventh was submitted by Mrs Chandler Thompson the following morning. We have included this one at the top of this list for best visibility to ensure it gets equal consideration as the other bids had at the meeting.

The current bids cover

For both Junior and Senior: sports,

Senior School: robotics, Ecology (juniors may benefit from these too.)

For the whole of Junior: music, playground facilities, Mindful gardening.

Younger years: Reception’s learning environments

The voting will last for 7 days, finishing on Sunday October 3rd. This is to give as many parents the opportunity to vote as possible. For bids under £1000.00 it is a yes or no vote, for bids over £1000.00 you have the opportunity to say yes for the whole amount, or no to any of it, or you can add what amount you feel is appropriate. The majority response will be carried. There is a small comment box at the end to add your further thoughts on the bids.

Thank you for your time.

Results

 

 

  cost  result
     
Cricket bid £4500 Yes
Junior Music bid £4420 Yes
Seniors Robotics bid £336 Yes
Juniors Picnic Playground Benches bid £3660 Yes
Potting Shed bid £859 Yes
Reception bid £822 Yes
Seniors Ecology bid £749 Yes

 

Cricket Nets

approx £4,500

This will positively affect the progression of cricket at Blackheath. It is a growing sport and we want to actively make the development on to hard ball and in order to do so the students need more time batting and bowling in a controlled environment. These batting nets allow for this. It would also benefit the beginners as less chasing the ball and would increase performance with Kwik cricket too. All age groups would benefit vastly from this added resource at the field.

Junior Music

£4,420

The BHSA kindly funded the purchases of all the string instruments for the String Tasters which started in 2011 just before I arrived.

We are now very keen to expand our Taster scheme to include woodwind and brass at Year 4 level.

• Learning an instrument has incredible benefits on the brain – fine and gross motor skills, aural skills, breath control (for brass and woodwind), following music on the page – all these skills combined at the same time are amazing for brain development.
• Learning in a group alongside peers is great fun and has enormous social benefits as well as that of self-confidence. It also is more likely to embed a lifelong love of music if the initial lessons and experiences are positive.
• Brass especially is seen as a ‘male’ instrument. So too is the saxophone. At BHJS we are wanting very much for girls to be able to play any instrument.
• Taster schemes boost uptake of individual music lessons and are an excellent platform upon which to launch a great group of new players who learn alongside each other. When I started at BHJS, we did guitar, strings and recorder well. There’s been a lot of expansion in terms of what we can offer but I want to firmly get all instruments available to girls during their time here. (Next: oboe, bassoon, harp but not now!).
• Our competitor schools are offering two taster schemes as standard now. Our Year 2 one is working really well and Year 4 would be an ideal time to introduce another.
• BHS Seniors run a scheme at Year 7 but both Mr S Henderson (Assistant Head) and Mrs E Gunton (Director of Music) are keen that this moves down to Juniors over the long term. Taster sessions at younger ages have much greater impact than waiting to Year 7 when enthusiasm for an instrument can fizzle out quite quickly as the girls are leading quite busy lives by this point.
• As much as there are some great leaps happening in science for women, music is yet to catch up! The girls we send up to BHS are fantastic musicians and I want to build on this tradition and send up some excellent instrumentalists who can straight away join orchestras and bands.
• We have an orchestra and brass club but I also want to get a Wind Band started as well.

In practical terms, I would really like to buy in 13 flutes, 13 clarinets, 13 saxophones and 13 trumpets. The market for school instruments has really moved on in the last few years and there are a lot of high-quality, lightweight plastic instruments being produced which are much more child friendly and easy to clean.

Seniors Robotics

£366

Many students have enjoyed building and programming the Lego Boost robots, which the BHSA kindly bought – students have built all the sets, including a guitar and a cat and have programmed them to move and dance. They are now asking if we can get more sets so they can develop their building and programming skills even more.
These robots sets would cover many aspects of STEM and would be used in the current Lego Robotics club, as well as on Open Days and when Key Stage 2 students visit school. Students from all key stages currently enjoy Lego club.
The robots would need to be constructed then the code written to control them, so students would use creative skills, improve their programming and see the product of their imagination and ideas.
We would like one LEGO 51515 MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor Robotics Kit

• Features five different models with their own capabilities and personalities, which can be programmed via the MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor app
• Kids gain essential STEM skills as they build, code and play with remote-control robots that shoot missiles, play ball, drive around & more!
• Blast can scan its environment and fire darts if it senses danger, while Charlie can give out high fives, dance, play the drums, and smile
• Tricky is the master of sports, the four-legged Gelo can walk and avoid obstacles, and M.V.P. can be rebuilt into a buggy, crane or truck!
• Features a rechargeable Intelligent Hub (seen in SPIKE Prime), 5×5 LED screen with smiley faces and speaker for expressing robot messages

And two LEGO Mindstorms Mini Robots Promo Sets

The robotic sets would be stored in the store room off LG04 which can be locked. There are no installation or maintenance costs apart from batteries.

The Robot Inventor kit costs £291.81 and each Mini Robots set costs £27.15. Batteries would cost £20 so the total is £366.11

Juniors Picnic Playground Benches

£3,660

New picnic playground benches:

1 x Junior Gameboard Picnic Bench with board game top

1 x Junior Gameboard Picnic Bench with play town top

2 x Rainbow benches

2 x Traditional 3 seater benches

The benches are good quality and durable. Our existing benches are old and showing their age. These picnic -style benches also have game options embedded in the table top. It is important to provide quieter areas in the playground so the girls can talk and interact.

Juniors Potting Shed

£859

Bid for Potting Shed to replace the existing but broken greenhouse.

• Eco Science Gardening Club including School Council.
• Potting Shed
• 6 x 6 – same size as existing greenhouse £ 859 (inc VAT)
• 10 year guarantee


Benefits
– To build upon the enthusiasm shown for the Gardening Club
– To grow our own produce and liaise with Accent to cook with our products, already successful in sharing our potatoes and herbs
– Inclusive opportunity for any member of the school community
– To help groups work together for a common goal developing language, communication and taking turns as well as an appreciation that growing plants takes time, commitment and patience.
– Wellbeing advantage – Article from the Guardian
There is an ever-growing body of scientific evidence that gardens and gardening are good for our physical, mental and social wellbeing. Having something to nurture brings a sense of unpressured purpose to our lives.

https://www.powersheds.com/potting-sheds/apex-potting-shed/

Reception Bid

£822

The following items will enhance our outdoor provision in Reception which has a separate outdoor space from Nursery :

  • This robust water tray has ridges along the side which will allow the children to explore how water travels using the piping we already have. This will extend their play and create problem solving opportunities as they try to get water from one place to another.

 

  • This kitchen set will replace the old one we have and create a wonderful ‘home’ role play area in our playhouse which allows the children to act out familiar experiences and roles and extend this by creating their own stories within a context they know well. These experiences build their vocabulary and imagination. The choice of wooden accessories supports our vision of using less brightly coloured plastic and creating a calmer, neutral and realistic colour palette.

Seniors Ecology

£749

Blackheath High Ecology Club

Request for budget to upgrade the school’s ecology area/pond area, to make it a safe and pleasant environment for out of the classroom learning (Eco Club, Ecology, Biology).

  • When a seating area is added, students will be able to study samples under their microscopes in this outdoor environment – on a table surface.
  • A pump to oxygenate the water in the pond will improve the water quality so more life can thrive in the pond. At the moment we have some newts and frogs, and dragonfly larvae in Spring, but warm temperatures lead to all pond life dying over the summer, so by September we can’t find any life anymore.
  • Compost, wildflowers and a hedgehog house will increase activity possibilities of use of the pond area for Eco Club as well.
Pictures of the current pond area at the senior school